Shame on you Konami

I never thought i’d say this but i dont think i can play Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 anymore….

I’ve been a huge fan of this series of football (soccer) games since it’s early incaration as International Superstar Soccer on the SNES

The previous version was the first on the XBox 360 and while it was deemed a success many felt they hadn’t pushed the hardware enough and it didn’t deserve the “next gen” tag. However the online play was massively addictive with it’s only problem being the occasional slowdown (lag) when on busy broadband connections

So i eagerly awaited the arrival of the latest version which i’ve had for a couple of months now. As usual they have tweaked the game enough so that it is still Pro Evo but different enough so that it’s not just an graphic and team update.

I usually play it offline for a little while then jump in once confident i’m not going to get hammered every time. It didn’t take me long to get into the swing of things and was happy with the changes

This is where my happiness quickly wore off.

The online version this time around is dreadful

It doesn’t suffer from slowdown…at all! However ,the problem is what i can only describe as jerkiness. The ball and players seem to randomly jump around the pitch and the camera usually follows them

This makes for hugely frustrating games. Earlier tonight i was playing a really close game with someone. I had the ball on the halfway line, looking to start a new attack when the ball suddenly disappeared and reappeared at the feet of the striker. Who promptly scored to send me to a disappointing loss. At least in the previous version if you got slow down you knew you’d still have the ball at the end of it

Apparently Konami have released a patch but i don’t think it’s made any difference. I’ve stuck with it a while as the game has years of goodwill on it’s side but i came very close to damaging some equipment tonight

In modern gaming online gaming can make or break a game. I don’t understand how they can go from having it pretty much spot on last time round to the shoddy state it’s in now

The basics don’t even work. There is an achievement for scoring a direct free kick during an online game. I’ve done this twice tonight (which is rare..i’m crap at free kicks) and still no achievement

From looking on other sites i’m not the only one to be annoyed with this. Fingers crossed for a new patch soon or Fifa my get another look in, which if your a fan of either game you’ll know it’s like changing the team you support!

Andy Parkes is Technical Director at Coventry based IT support company IBIT Solutions. Formerly, coordinator of AMITPRO and Microsoft Partner Area Lead for 2012-2013. He also isn't a fan of describing himself in the third person.